Apprenticeship qualifications
Apprenticeships are available at intermediate, advanced and higher (degree) level, here are some examples:
Food
Specific job roles for Intermediate Level Apprentices in Catering and Professional Chefs:
- Food Production and Cooking – kitchen assistant helping with food preparation, school cook, cook or chef preparing, cooking and serving meals, including large volume meals;
- Professional Cookery – Craft and Commis Chef in fine dining or casual dining settings or as Chef/Cook specialising in a range of Asian, Oriental and other cuisines;
- Craft Cuisine – Commis Chef, Demi Chef or Chef de Partie producing a wide variety of dish types and ingredients.
Specific job roles for Advanced Level Apprentices in Catering and Professional Chefs:
- Professional Cookery – Sous Chef/Cook or Senior Chef/Cook specialising in fine dining, casual dining in restaurants, hotels and gastro pubs;
- Patisserie and Confectionery – Pastry Chef
- Craft Cuisine – Sous Chef or Senior Chef preparing and finishing food from scratch for a wide variety of dish types and ingredients.
Front of House
Some examples of job titles that this apprenticeship framework has been identified for are:
- Barpersons (leased, tenanted, managed, wine bar, cocktail bar, nightclub)
- Restaurant staff (waiters, waitresses)
- Bar managers
- Food and Beverage Managers
- Shift mangers
- Bar team leaders.
Apprentices working in these roles are likely to undertake a range of activities such as serving food and drink, taking payment, working in the cellar, and stock taking, marketing, training and motivating other staff, monitoring company accounts, as well as other activities.
Specific job roles for Intermediate Level apprentices:
- Hospitality Services – Hospitality Services Assistant. Working in a range of settings of different sizes where employers expect staff to undertake a range of duties including serving customers, preparing and cooking food, serving drinks, reception, cleaning and preparing rooms;
- Food and Beverage Service – Waiter or Silver Service Waiter – food and beverage or food services or Bar/cellar person;
- Housekeeping – Housekeeper, Room Attendant (housekeeping), Chamber Maid;
- Front of House – Front of House Receptionist.
Specific job roles for Advanced Level apprentices:
Hospitality Supervision and Leadership working as:
- Unit Manager – Contract Catering;
- Head Housekeeper;
- Head of Reception;
- Front of House Manager;
- Duty/Hotel Supervisor/Manager;
- Regional Supervisor/Manager in a restaurant or pub chain with multiple outlets.
Hospitality Retail Outlet Supervision working as:
- Team Leaders in Hospitality Retail Outlets
- Supervisor of Hospitality Retail Outlet
Recruiting an apprentice
If you have less than 250 employees, the National Apprenticeship Service has a Small Business Team specialising in meeting the needs of smaller employers. They can guide you through the three ‘Ds’ in the process of hiring an apprentice.
- Decide on your needs and recruit apprentices through the free apprenticeship vacancies service.
- Deliver the apprenticeship, working with a training organisation to reduce the burden on your business.
- Develop your apprentice and enter them into awards and competitions to put your business on the map.
Apprenticeships vacancies service
If you want to recruit an apprentice, the training organisation you work with will help you advertise the positions for free on the National Apprenticeship Service’s Apprenticeship vacancies website. This will help you to identify candidates that match your criteria. There are almost half a million people who currently use the apprenticeship vacancies website to search and apply for vacancies.
To speak to a National Apprenticeship Service Small Business Team advisor call 08000 150 600.
Traineeships
If you don’t feel confident enough or are not equipped to provide a full-blown apprenticeship you might consider offering a traineeship. A Traineeship is an education and training program with work experience that is focused on giving young people the skills and experience that employers are looking for. At its core are work preparation training, English and maths for those who need it, and a high quality work experience placement.
Traineeships are very flexible, and by working closely with a training organisation you can design a programm which suits your needs and those of the trainee, they can last from six weeks up to six months and will include:
- Work preparation training provided by the training organisation
- English and maths* support if required, provided by the training organisation
